Gun shame of boy Lawrence saved

The headmaster's widow watches as his former pupil is convicted of carrying a loaded pistol. Sue Clough reports

12:01AM GMT 18 Jan 2003

Frances Lawrence, the widow of the murdered headmaster Philip Lawrence, watched at the Old Bailey yesterday as William Njoh, the pupil her husband died trying to save, was convicted of carrying a loaded gun at last year's Notting Hill carnival.

Njoh, who told the jury his life fell apart after the headmaster's death, said he was given the Browning pistol to look after by a man he knew as Big Foot.

Now 21, he said he was acting under duress. "I was terrified. I had heard stories about him shooting and stabbing people, I feared he would do something to me there and then."

But the seven women and five men convicted him of possessing the gun and having it and one round of live ammunition without certificates. Njoh had earlier admitted going equipped for burglary by possessing a pair of gloves.

Mrs Lawrence, a solitary figure in the public gallery throughout the three-day trial and earlier hearings, said afterwards that she felt sorry for Njoh.

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Asked if his trial had brought back the memory of her husband's murder, she replied: "It has never gone away." The judge gave no indication yesterday of the sentence Njoh was likely to face.

Asked about the Government's proposals for a minimum five-year sentence for people carrying guns, Mrs Lawrence said: "I think we have got to start somewhere, any initiative should be given a chance."

Mrs Lawrence said she felt there was a close relationship between the law, morality and responsibility, and upholding the law was the responsibility of every citizen.

"I think the case reflects not just this desperately sad life of William's, but very much the state we find our society in today. I think it is symptomatic of what has gone wrong in our big estates.

"We heard during this case of a character called Big Foot. It seems to me Big Foot is the main player in this very sad tale and he wasn't even here on the stage.

"It seems to me in our big cities and elsewhere there are Big Feet. Whether Big Foot is a real person he is certainly one of the negative elements in society, and we have to confront these Big Feet everywhere who do trample on young lives."

After her husband's murder Mrs Lawrence said she had wanted to keep in touch with Njoh but, for reasons she did not elaborate upon, it had not been possible.

Njoh was a 13-year-old pupil at St George's Roman Catholic School, Maida Vale, in 1995, where Mr Lawrence, a 48-year-old father of four, was the popular and committed headmaster.

Outside the school gates Njoh was attacked by a gang of would-be Triads led by Learco Chindamo, then 16. Mr Lawrence intervened to protect his pupil and was fatally stabbed by Chindamo who was later convicted of murder and ordered to be detained indefinitely.

Because Njoh was a witness in the trial he was given police protection, he and his family moved to a new address and he found it difficult to settle.

"I had to keep my identity from other kids, there were people who did not approve that I was going to give evidence," he told the jury this week. He had dropped out of school and drifted back into west London "because the killers were behind bars".

During legal argument, his counsel Paul Keleher said he had been psychologically affected by Mr Lawrence's death and had nightmares about what had happened to him, causing him to suffer depression.

After the verdicts the court heard Njoh had a history of petty offending beginning in his teens when, in 1998, he was sentenced to two years' detention for robbery followed by community sentences for burglary, having a bladed weapon and possessing cannabis.

He attracted police attention at last year's carnival because he was smoking cannabis and swigging from a bottle of brandy. He put up a violent struggle when police tried to search him and was eventually overpowered and handcuffed.

As officers went through his pockets they found the gun wrapped in a dirty cloth in his inside pocket. Njoh, from Lewisham, south London, was remanded in custody for reports and will be sentenced next month.